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Which to pick?

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By Chainer
2008-09-23 00:27
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So I am getting ready to order everything for my first robot of doom (or so I hope it to become), and have run into a small snag.  I was going to go with the general consensus of the Picaxe 28X board to start with, however getting the Programming Editor to run on my Mac's OS X looks like nothing short of painful hours of pain.  I have heard that the Arduino board's Porgramming Editor works on OS X (I am running Leapord) and was wondering if maybe this should be the way to go. 

Comments and thoughts as to how to overcome my dilemma would be awesome.

Either way, I hope to have a bot to share wih you all soon.

‹ Can you work with LED??? Picaxe 28x1 the full package??? ›
By Duane S @ Tue, 2008-09-23 03:14

Chainer,I have a good

Chainer,

I have a good friend, psr_177, who's gone to the dark side.  (He's recently bought a MAC notebook)  He's been involved with a work related relocation, so I don't know if he's active right now.  You might try PM'ing him.  He's a sharp guy, and very computer savvy.  Last I heard, he "almost" had the PICAXE programming editor working on the MAC.

Duane S

Wilson, North Carolina  USA

By Duane S @ Tue, 2008-09-23 03:21

I just sent psr_177 an

I just sent psr_177 an email to remind him to check in here.  :)

Duane S

Wilson, North Carolina  USA

By Chainer @ Tue, 2008-09-23 03:30
Chainer's picture

Thanks

That is quite helpful, I believe I will send him that PM, and ensure that he knows that it's not terribly time sensitve (since I am so poor and can't afford to buy all the parts for around a month now).  And if the Mac is the dark side, then I am ok with that, we have cookies.  Honestly though, to each their own for platform choices, I would just like to see equal development support since the OS X, Winblows, and Linux are all great platforms in their own rights and can perform similair tasks.
By Duane S @ Tue, 2008-09-23 03:59

When I mention the "dark

When I mentioned the "dark side", I hope that you understood that I meant that in jest.   The Mac is a powerfull machine.  It's just been marketed differently.  In fact, I bought a high end MAC for my nephew when he started college.  He's a music and language major.  (I didn't get to play with the MAC, but I did get to pay for it).  :)

Duane S

Wilson, North Carolina  USA

By Chainer @ Tue, 2008-09-23 04:54
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Sorry if you misunderstood

Sorry if you misunderstood me.  I have quite the odd sense of humor and it can be quite dry (especially towards the end of the day).  I would have probably ignored the part that offended me if I had been to any degree.  I think I also have "newcomers disease" where you try and "prettify" how you say things and it comes across quite stiff.
By Duane S @ Tue, 2008-09-23 05:10

Not a problem.  I just hope

Not a problem.  I just hope that psr_177, or someone else can give you a lead on getting the PICAXE software running on your MAC. 

PC vs MAC?  PICAXE vs Basic Stamp?  BetaMax vs VHS?  Ford vs Chevy?  Its the same story.  We all have brand preferences, but that doesn't mean one is really better than another.

Good luck. 

Duane S

Wils.on, North Carolina  USA

By Chainer @ Tue, 2008-09-23 05:16
Chainer's picture

Very true, also BluRay vs

Very true, also BluRay vs HD-DVD.  And if all else fails I have two options to get the Picaxe program running...I can either install a copy of Windows XP via Mac's Bootcamp utility or I can restore my Dell PC to working condition with a new PC and have it be dedicated sole to Robotics work...
By hootyhoo @ Tue, 2008-09-23 05:27

I'd go with bootcamp.  It

I'd go with bootcamp.  It should work fine.  I even attended a LAN party recently where I was the only one with an actual PC.  Everyone else was running Bootcamped XP on MAC laptops.  I don't think it should have any trouble running the PICAXE editor.  Instead of a dedicated PC you can have a dedicated Bootcamp.

 

P.S. I think it's funny, everyone I know who has a MAC switched because they got tired of Windows BS.  But, every one of them fires up XP when they need to do anything but casual internet use or multimedia stuff.

By Chainer @ Tue, 2008-09-23 05:35
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Heh, I have found

Heh, I have found exceptional alternatives to all my old XP programs to run on OS X, and in most cases they are superior.  Granted, I don't do terribly much on my Mac short of browse the web, produce said podcast, and listen to music, but hey, I have random stuff too.

 

Now to find a copy of XP...

By Chris the Carpenter @ Tue, 2008-09-23 20:34
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I ran into this as well...

First, please understand that I am no geek... but... You really can't run the picaxe programmer on a mac. That is unless you have one of the fancy one's that can dual boot or in some way run windows. That being said, I would really recomend sticking with picaxe over anything else. Again, not a geek but I have seen many conversations involving code issues on pics, adurino and the like and what I see is the basic that picaxe uses is well, basic! It is simple, regular language and I picked it up very very quickly. On the other hand, the code that the "other guys" here use seems confusing and frightening to me - a lot of symbols and 1 and 0's.

 Again, I can't stress enough that I have no idea what I am talking about, I just know that I am using picaxe and love everything about it. 

BTW- We are a mixed family 2/3 mac 1/3 pc... And belive it or not, I edit our podcast on the PC!! I switched from Garage Band to Adobe Audition and never looked back!

By Chainer @ Tue, 2008-09-23 21:09
Chainer's picture

Thanks Chris

What kind of macs are you running? I have a brand spanking new Mac Mini with the Intel Chipset etc etc.  And I don't use Garageband either, I use Audacity, because I am le simpleton.   I do need to do more research into Bootcamp and dual booting and so on down the line.

 

Thanks again, and I am definitely leaning towards Picaxe for the ease of programming as I have absolutely no knowledge of any coding languages.

By psr_177 @ Tue, 2008-09-23 21:33

Picaxe Programming editor on MAc

Chris,

I have recently bought a MacBook with Intel Duo Core and when looked for the Picaxe editor I had no success...

But there are cookies as you said BootCamp, VMWARE, PARALLELS Virtual PC environments.

Good thing about VMware or parallels is that it will allow your Mac run Windows XP simultaneously and you dont need to reboot your mac (bootcamp)...

Below is the link for video

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmkqrEIPy9k

very good video... 

By voodoobot @ Tue, 2008-09-23 23:25
voodoobot's picture

I run vmware fusion(xppro

I run vmware fusion(xppro sp3) on an MBP and can say it runs  great. I haven't tried doing the programming of a pic since I don't have a usb cable for it yet.

my programming is still done on an old dell with a serial port.... 

By psr_177 @ Tue, 2008-09-23 21:36

vmware for mac os x

Link for my node and video about vmware.. 

http://letsmakerobots.com/node/1786

 

By Chainer @ Tue, 2008-09-23 21:43
Chainer's picture

Looks like I will be going

Looks like I will be going the Bootcamp route with an old copy of windows, as I can't afford to shell out cash for a new program at the same time as ordering parts.
By Chainer @ Mon, 2008-09-29 20:35
Chainer's picture

Scratch that previous

Scratch that previous comment from me... I am starting to lean the Arduino way, because of the native OS X Support (I can't find my old windows disk and refuse to pirate one).  Is the Diecimila comparable to the PICAXE 28X1 or should I be looking for a different Arduino board?  I am trying to get a board that will be relatively easy to learn, yet have quite a bit of functionality for more complex bots in the future.
By Chainer @ Mon, 2008-09-29 21:04
Chainer's picture

Again, ignore my ignorance,

Again, ignore my ignorance, because I am retarded at times.  I did the research and figured it out on my own! Amazing!  Tomorrow I order my first set of stuff.

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